To Infinity
by Blossom the Cellist
Summary: Donald and Goofy are teaching Sora to be an amazing Keyblade wielder! But things aren't working out exactly according to plan... (Autistic!Sora AU, please read the author's note before posting a review)


**I'd like to start this off by saying; yes, I am on the Autism spectrum. I was diagnosed with Aspergers in 2012, and since about a year ago I've been involved in promoting neurodiversity and educating people on what ASD really is.**

 **On that note, I'd like to say a few things about what not to say in a review. First off, if you support Autism Speaks, then for the love of all things holy, don't review. If you want to learn about why they're so terrible, google "Autism Speaks masterpost" and read thecaffinatedautistic's blog post. It should be the first result. Otherwise, don't post a review, because I really don't want people talking about puzzle pieces and etc.**

 **Speaking of which, I don't want any comments of "omg poor Sora! Autism is so horrible and I feel bad for him!1" Just. Don't.**

 **Off the topic of reviews, I named the one-shot after the Autism symbol-the rainbow infinity sign. While I'm semi-proud of how this turned out, I know for a fact that the ending kinda sucks. I was hopped up on pain meds when I wrote it and still am because I had surgery yesterday, and besides that I was typing on an ipad. If you see a spelling or grammar error, don't hesitate to call me out on it-that is, so long as you don't make any dumb comments about ASD. Autocorrect is a bitch sometimes.**

 **While this is a one-shot for now, I may make another chapter or two if I get good reviews. Still means no dumb comments, basically, though constructive criticism on my writing style and etc. is welcome.**

 **Anyway, I've made this long enough. On with the story!**

 **To Infinity**

Sora was your everyday teenage boy.

Or rather, he used to be. He went to school on the Destiny Islands, lived in a nice comfy home with his mom and dad, and played on the beach with his two friends, Riku and Kairi. But now those two friends had gone missing, and he was teamed up with a talking dog and duck to go find them. Blown off to another world when his islands were literally swallowed by the darkness, he had no idea how he was going to get back home. It was as if he was in a bad dream—he even had the mysterious powers to go with it.

Speaking of which, the dog, Goofy, was talking. "Hey, why don'tcha try summoning that Keyblade? You gotta practice with us!"

That wouldn't be too hard, right? "Okay!" Sora nodded, tapping his foot rhythmically on the ground as he held his hand out in front of him. _Focus_ _…focus…_

 _Flash!_

Sora let out a squeak in surprise as a screaming bright light engulfed everything. His brain _hurt!_ He tapped his foot faster, hearing the loud clang of the metal as the Keyblade fell to the ground; but the instant it did, it disappeared in yet another flash of light. As he continued stimming with his foot, he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, the image of the bright light gone but his ears still ringing from the sensory overload.

"Gawsh, are you okay?" Goofy asked, concerned as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Sora fidgeted at the touch; usually he liked hugs and such, but right now something like that was the last thing he needed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine." Geez…even his clothes were scratching him right now. His mom had put in effort to get him shoes that were soft and comfy and a shirt and shorts that didn't feel like they were scraping apart his skin, but they still bugged him sometimes. His shoes looked big and ridiculous, but at least it was better than slowly going insane from the sensory overload, and they made a nice clicking sound when he tapped them on the ground… It both felt and sounded satisfying...

"Stop tapping your foot!" the duck, Donald, quacked angrily, and Sora made an effort to quit it, but he still fidgeted with his leg and clacked his tongue.

"Sorry," He apologized in between clicks, his eyes on a lamppost behind them. The repetitive stimming felt so good; he didn't know why, it just did. He didn't understand how people—or rather, animals—like his two new friends dealt with these bright lights and overwhelming sounds, or how they kept their hands and feet still all the time, or—

"And look at me when you talk!" Or that. How do you focus both on talking and looking at someone? It was so much easier to just let his eyes wander…

Trying to make eye contact with Donald, Sora nodded. "Right." He wondered if Donald was mad at him; it was so hard to tell sometimes. Other people could figure it out just by looking at someone's face, but for some reason it didn't come naturally for Sora. Voices made it a bit easier, but Donald's voice was…well, it was Donald. Sometimes Sora, despite his attention to detail, couldn't even understand what the duck was saying.

"What if we got you sunglasses?" Goofy suggested. "They'd help block out the light so you can fight better!"

"Yeah, and headphones too!" Donald put in. Sora nodded enthusiastically; he really did want to find his friends, and it was annoying having to deal with these issues obstructing his way. It was mostly sensory, and the other two would learn to put up with his constant stimming, right? Riku and Kairi did…though Riku still would tease him about it sometimes.

"Let's go!" Sora started forward, then stopped suddenly and frowned. He had no idea how to get around this town… Did Goofy and Donald know? Tapping his foot and clicking his tongue again, the boy searched the area with his eyes. Maybe there was a sign pointing them in the right direction?

"C'mon, Sora!" Goofy was calling, and Sora turned towards him. "The shop is this way!"

"Oh, um…" The boy nodded, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Right!" Without a second thought, Sora chased after the dog and duck, heading for the first district.

* * *

Things were noisy inside this particular store, Sora noticed right off the bat. Loud clangs and painful yells and the overwhelming bright colors that felt like they were blinding him were all around, making his brain hurt. It felt like everything was screaming in his face; even the lights were too bright. _Hopefully this'll be over soon…_

The trio walked through the shop, Donald and Goofy taking the lead seeing as they knew the place better. "Do you have a color in mind?" the dog asked Sora, who nodded in response.

"Red," he answered almost immediately. It had always been his favorite color, ever since he was little. It wasn't painfully bright like yellow, but it still looked cool. Even the clothes he was wearing were red mostly red.

Donald walked over to the rack with sunglasses on it, and Sora followed, turning the display to view all of his options. There was some pink…no, too girly, although Kairi would like that…some green, but it was too bright… The boy clacked his tongue and tapped his foot, trying his hardest to block out all the noise and colors around him, and doing pretty terrible at it. How were his friends dealing with this? It was so intense.

"What about this one?" Donald asked in his scratchy voice, and Sora turned to look at what he was holding up. It was a packaged set of both headphones and sunglasses, advertised as 'the latest trend'. They were red with a silver stripe running through them, probably adding to the 'cool' factor, though Sora didn't really care much about that. As the boy took the package from him and surveyed it in awe, the duck asked, "Do you like them?"

"Yeah!" Sora smiled, nodding and handing them back to Donald. "Now, um… Can we pleaaaase buy them and leave here?" he half begged, half whined. "It's a little noisy in here."

"No problem, Sora!" Goofy said, laughing as the three walked towards the cash register. Sora gave a victorious grin; maybe he could find his friends now! After all, fighting couldn't be too hard, right?

* * *

"Well, why don'tcha try them on?"

The three friends were standing in the middle of the third district, Donald wielding his staff and Goofy his shield. Sora held both the sunglasses and headphones in one hand, stimming as usual, his eyes on the door in front of him.

"Okay!" the boy said, nodding and holding out the things. As he slipped them on his head, Donald and Goofy looked on expectantly for his reaction. The headphones had cost over five thousand munny, which hadn't been easy to pool together. Defeating Heartless could only get you so much, and the two usually spent it on potions and ethers.

 _Tap, tap, tap, tap.._.

"They're amazing!" Sora finally exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "I could fight so well with these! They're red, they block out the noise and light so easily...I love them! And they match my shirt!" Donald and Goofy both laughed as Sora took the headphones off again and examined them. "Solar powered, can store energy or up to twelve hours, blocks out almost all noise, guara...guaran...guar..." Stumbling over his words from talking so fast, Sora quickly amended his statement. "Proven to last at least a year..." Sora put them back on his head, switching them on. "Thank you both!"

"Do ya think ya could fight the Heartless with those?" Goofy questioned.

Sora nodded; though it was a bit harder, he could still just barely hear his friends. "Easy! These block out so much, I'm sure I could-"

The telltale sound of Heartless appearing rang out behind them, and the three heroes spun around, weapons in hand. "Speak of the devil," Donald muttered, causing Sora to look at him-or rather, one of his wings-in confusion.

"Devil?" the boy questioned, tapping his feet and clicking his tongue repeatedly. What about the devil? These weren't devils. They were Heartless, right?

"..." Donald shook his head. "Never mind...Fire!" he yelled, casting a Fire spell at a Shadow to dispatch it.

"Let's go!" Sora cheered, running in and taking a swing at a Heartless. Barely missing, he rolled out of the way of a scratch and thrust his Keyblade forward and into its stomach. It disappeared into wisps of darkness, and he swung his Keyblade in an arc to catch any nearby Heartless in its path.

"Thunder!" Donald cried, killing another Shadow that had been sneaking up behind Sora. He handed a potion to the boy. "Here, take this just in case! Drink it if you get hurt."

"Thanks!" Sora grinned, throwing his Keyblade at another nearby Heartless and the re-summoning it back into his hands. He barely rolled out of the way of another scratch by a Shadow, then stood up and whacked it with his Keyblade. Backing away from another enemy and getting ready to strike it, he held his weapon out...

Suddenly, he crashed into Goofy. "Oof!" He tried to block a swing from the Heartless, but he was too slow and was hit in the stomach. Falling to the ground and holding his Keyblade up above him as it clanged with the Shadow's claws, he fumbled in his pocket for the potion. _C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon..._ "Got it!" he finally exclaimed, pouring it into hit mouth.

"G-gah!" He spit it out right in the Shadow's face, barely blocking another swipe. It burned! It was bitter and grainy in his mouth and vaguely tasted like pure cocoa; he spit again and again, trying to rid his mouth of the disgusting taste and get back up on his feet. "Ew-ah!" He yelped again in pain as the Shadow scratched him, sending him flying against the wall and hitting his head hard as the world went black.

"Heal!"

The noise echoed through his head as suddenly his injuries faded; Sora jumped up again, resummoning his Keyblade to his hand and looking around. Half-expecting to be attacked again, Sora held his Keyblade in a defensive position...wait. "Huh?" Sora asked, standing up straight again and looking around in confusion. "Where are the...?

"We took care of 'em while you were out!" Goofy said, putting his hand on Sora's shoulder. The boy tapped his Keyblade on the ground, clicking his tongue again.

"Thanks," he said, grinning at the two, but his happiness was dashed as Donald stepped forward, his wings crossed.

"Why didn't you drink the potion?" the bird asked, clearly annoyed, and Sora looked down bash fully.

"It tasted really bad...sorry..." he mumbled, sending his Keyblade away and continuing to stim. "I tried..."

While Donald clearly looked frustrated, Goofy seemed to understand. "How 'bout we try hi-potions? They're a lot sweeter!"

"And expensive!" Donald snapped, but Goofy held out a bottle for Sora to try.

"Um..." Hesitantly, the boy took the hi-potion, holding it out in front of him. "Well, I guess... I'll try it."

As the other two looked on in anticipation, Sora uncapped the bottle and downed the drink, albeit reluctantly. "Mmm..." He licked his lips, frowning as he processed the aftertaste...

Finally, his eyes lit up as he tossed the bottle aside. "I love it!" he exclaimed, leaping forward to hug Donald and Goofy. "Thank you both!"

Donald quacked in surprise, but Goofy laughed and juggled the boy back. "Anytime, Sora!" The boy laughed happily as Donald finally hugged back.

After a minute of two, the three broke apart, Sora and Goofy grinning but Donald looking serious.

"Sora...?" the duck ventured, looking less angry than usual.

"Yes, Donald?" the brunette responded, putting his hands behind his head and smiling; he didn't quite catch onto Donald's serious tone.

The duck hesitated, frowning slightly. "I was rude to you when I shouldn't have been. I should have accepted your differences..." He looked down, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"It's okay!" Sora responded quickly, still smiling as Donald looked up in surprise. "After all, we're friends, right?"

"Yeah!" Donald said, cheering up; though how could he not, with the big goofy grin on Sora's face? "Let's go to infinity!"

"Yeah!" Sora hugged Donald again, and Goofy joined in a moment later.

"All for one, and one for all!"


End file.
